The Fantastic Tales of Lissa Dove
by a singular dream
Summary: [The Kingdom in Exile OneShot] Ten years old Kayleeth Rolayne Smith and her friends from Happy Valley Orphanage are dead-set to build a circus, to do so, they have to complete Mission Office Lamps, during which they meet Circus Girl Marie.


_You got this subtle kind of way of making everything turn grey  
Like a bottle that runs dry before you've even had a drink  
Do you think what you do just might fix the bad in you?  
Well, you're wrong this time around_

_And oh, oh, oh, oh, you know you gave me something to believe in  
Oh, oh, oh, oh, you hide behind these battle lines_

* * *

Kayleeth Rolayne Smith hated the Happy Valley Orphanage.

It was cold, dirty and always noisy. The walls, once white like the snow she had only seen on the one television in the staff room, were grey and dirty. She was pretty sure that that one orange patch wasn't from the time they had thrown the terrible spaghetti bolognese through the room. They told everyone that, but it wasn't. It had been there before her first memories.

That being said, all of her memories were within these grey walls and the yard they called a garden.

She leaned against the wall of her bed in the large hall in which all girls lived—no boys allowed—and watched John study the book that he probably had gotten from the storeroom that their elementary school called a library. John always found these books, as if it was the easiest that could ever be. He also understood them. To Kayleeth, who was far too occupied with throwing chalk at the blackboard, that was a mystery. The only thing she used books (just like now) was to balance them on her head. Today, it was _The Fantastic Tales of Lissa Dove_, a children's book from the orphanage. She did that, to the dismays of her teachers, in class as well. Class time was just as boring as the grey walls that she could probably draw from memory by now. Recreation was better, but there were always those kids with families that laughed at the orphan kids for, well, not having parents.

A strange concept, Kayleeth thought. Living with adults that paid attention to you.

She knew the social workers of the Happy Valley Orphanage all, and all of them looked like they had spent the whole day in the hot, dry gym of Happy Valley Elementary School, without a drop of water. Red, annoyed, groaning and complaining. There was one that didn't like that John was reading all the time. There was another that didn't like that Kayleeth was never reading. Both agreed that the adults made no sense and were, at best, doomed to die from starvation because they couldn't decide which brand of exactly-the-same-noodles they should chose to cook for dinner.

That being said, the kids from the Happy Valley Orphanage usually chose the pack that was thrown the furthest.

Maybe that was why Kayleeth wasn't allowed to cook any more; one time, she had knocked out one of the social workers and gotten into big big trouble. To the ten years old blonde, it had been a fun day. To John, who had been watching the whole thing, it was fascinating—because the kids that did bad things had to spend time in the Single Room, alone under the stairs. John, who never got into trouble (or rather, who was never caught), wanted to know if Harry Potter lived there too. Kayleeth knew he didn't, but she was sure that whoever he was, they'd be great friends.

On this particular day, the kids decided that they were trying to build a circus tent from bedsheets. They had seen a big, red and yellow one on their way home from school, and the adults even let them pet the horses! Kayleeth was supervising the building. Theoretically, John was—he had made the plan with the old crayons and some newspaper they found—but he was reading and trusted Kayleeth with organising the construction. Hence everyone calling her 'Construction Site Manager Kayleeth'.

Kayleeth didn't really know what that was, but she had nodded it off proudly.

Therefore, holding the crayoned Happy Valley Times in front of her, she watched the kids remove the sheets from the bunk beds and move the mattresses and beds into a circle. With the 'rectangular' (as John called it) shape of the room, that was difficult, and their circus only consisted of a vague diameter of a bit more than two beds, but that was alright.

The beds had been moved, and Kayleeth began giving each orphanage kid a role—some would climb up and begin arranging the whole room's pillows into rows—two levels of rows, of course—while the others would reach up to the ceiling and use the unused hooks in the ceiling to create the tend once they were done. Construction Site Manager Kayleeth Rolayne Smith took safety very seriously.

"Jackye! Be careful, Louna is still up there," she warned two children.

She helped Willoh and Forest climb up to the upper level so they could check if everyone could sit on the higher bunk beds. Willoh and Forest were two of the oldest kids, and therefore the tallest. They could. Barely, but they could.

"Phase Two has been completed!" Kayleeth announced.

"Great," John commented from the floor next to her. "Let's try to get the desk lamps from the office."

"Good idea!" she cheered. "How? Isn't there usually someone?"

"Willoh and Jackye, I need you two to go to the yard and pretend to be playing soccer. Jackye needs to stumble and pretend to be unresponsive. Willoh then runs to the office and tells everyone that Jackye died and they all need to come. Meanwhile, Kile and Kayleeth will sneak into the office and grab as many laps as they can. Louna, Landon and Toonee, each of you will stand guard. Louna will stand guard at the yard exit. Landon, you stay in the kitchen and watch if everyone is leaving. Toonee, you take the front entrance. If anything is threatening the plan, shout 'Look, there's an UFO'. When you hear that, you saw it too and tell others to go to the window. Point to the sky—even if there's no UFO—and insist that there is one. Kayleeth and Forest should be given time to escape while chaos is happening, and store the lamps here if they have then, or just come back safely. Deal?"

"Yes, sir!" the children called out, and began preparing Mission Office Lamps.

* * *

_I'm gonna be a comeback kid  
And I want to find the words I need to say  
Yeah, I'm gonna survive with my head held high  
And finally walk away  
I'm gonna be a comeback kid  
And I want to be the one that's not afraid  
To jump from every sinking ship 'cause I'm done  
Waiting to be saved_

* * *

Kayleeth liked to consider herself as a rather stealthy person. She was able to get up at night and go to the toilet without even waking up Louna. She was able to sneak into the kitchen and steal the cookies when the office workers were in a meeting. She had stolen John's books before.

That was the reason why she was paired with Forest, who was good at climbing below things and could reach high up. She wasn't afraid of spiders either. They watched Willoh and Jackye start playing soccer outside. Of course, John was sitting behind them, and if anyone asked, all three were now reading.

John never went on missions, he only coordinated.

He had started that pretty early. He hadn't arrived at the orphanage that early, but rather through See-Pee-Es (a rare case), but as a young child, so he had grown up with the others. They knew his identity, even. John Wong—he had a name and birthdate and listed family. Some kids in the orphanage had been jealous until John told them.

John's parents were worse than the social workers.

It made Kayleeth sure that she never ever ever wanted parents. So, whenever adults came to meet the children, she made sure to be in the Single Room or something. Forest, just like most of the Happy Valley Orphanage children, and Kayleeth had arrived before they could remember their own name.

Civil war victims, they said.

Orphans of the rebellion, they said.

Too big words for Kayleeth to understand.

She had no parents—that's what an orphan is—and she was happy with that, never wanted it to change. John was her brother, and Forest was her older sister—just like Willoh and Jackye and Louna. The social workers were just a minor annoyance, as John liked to say. They had given her name—oh how she hated it and the reactions she got—but that was it. Kayleeth didn't define the blonde.

"They're about to be ready, Kayleeth," Forest warned her, and therefore, Kayleeth jumped upon her feet. They gave John a nod. He returned it. They were free to go, and sneaked through the door, past the kitchen, to pretend to be about to have a glass of water.

* * *

_You got this subtle kind of way about you that pulls me under but I won't drown  
__It's gonna take a whole lot more than that to ever bring me down  
__I promise that I'll be back and I'll be better than before  
__What you broke down I'll build back up, 'cause I don't need you anymore_

_And oh, oh, oh, oh, you know you gave me something to believe in  
__Oh, oh, oh, oh, you hide behind these battle lines_

_And oh, oh, oh, oh, you know you gave me something to believe in  
__Oh, oh, oh, oh, you hide behind these battle lines_

* * *

"_Oh my god! Jackye! Are you alright? Can you hear me? Somebody help! Jackye is dead! Dead! Jackye, answer me!_"

They saw Willoh rush past them, with false tears in her eyes. They heard someone giggle, and the present social workers (two) follow her.

"Wait a minute, please. This is important."

"What did you do this time?" one demanded to know.

"Do you have your phone? I don't want an ambulance again, but…"

"Just hurry!"

Whatever an ambulance was, it better distracted them for a while, Kayleeth hoped. She nodded to Forest and as swift as the wind, they turned around the corner, into the open office and went to their work.

The easiest lamp (she had done this before) were the two on the desks; they were connected to one of the wall socks with many holes (Kayleeth and the others weren't allowed to touch them; an easy Single Room reason) and they just had to pull out the white-ish thing. Kayleeth grabbed both while Forest climbed into the corner where a big standing lamp was.

"The torches! You remember? From the time, Louna got lost?"

"Of course!" Forest cheered. "Good idea, but where are they?"

"I'll try and look. Maybe in the second room?" she nodded to the closed door. The conference room, attached to the office, was another no-go zone—unless you had to have a one-on-one talk with the adults, of course. They nodded to another, and Kayleeth watched Forest carry the big lamp out of the room. There was still screaming coming from the yard—they were safe.

Kayleeth began searching through the countless drawers in the office. Paper. Paper. Pens. Oh, glue sticks, cool. She grabbed two. Scissors. She grabbed two as well. They could make confetti of a bedsheet, maybe? Another drawer with paper, folders, one with her name, some with other's names…

"There's nothing here, she realised. "That's not good. We need stuff. It's gotta be in the Conference room." She briefly wondered what a 'conference' was. It sounded a lot like 'confetti', but there was nothing fun about the Conference room.

Kayleeth opened the door, looked around and noticed another lamp on the small circular table. Great, she could grab that one. There also was another girl with black, chaotic hair and much more tan than Kayleeth could ever have next to it. Kayleeth ignored her and climbed under the table (_there better be no spiders_) to move the white thing out of the wall and grab the lamp.

"What'cha doing?" the girl asked.

* * *

_I'm gonna be a comeback kid  
And I want to find the words I need to say  
Yeah, I'm gonna survive with my head held high  
And finally walk away  
I'm gonna be a comeback kid  
And I want to be the one that's not afraid  
To jump from every sinking ship 'cause I'm done  
Waiting to be saved_

* * *

"Grabbing a lamp. Have you seen torches?" Kayleeth replied.

"… no? Why do you need torches?"

_That was obvious._ "Circus. We need these big big lights."

The girl rose an eyebrow. "Spotlights."

"Yes, John called them that."

"Well, I doubt they're here…"

Kayleeth shrugged. "They aren't in the Office, so they have to be in the Conference room."

The girl, having been sitting on a chair, stood up and leaned forward. She titled her head. "So, do tell me, why does a crappy orphanage such as this have a circus? And who are you?"

"Kayleeth," Kayleeth replied. "And we are building a circus! Just like the one at the big park."

The girl's expression darkened. It darkened a lot. Not literally darkened but figuratively (another big word from John), like her eyes went down and she looked away and her body looked like she was about to fall together, like the Happy Valley Orphanage kids, when Santa didn't come again.

Kayleeth shrugged. Whatever. "I've never seen you around? How did I miss you?"

"I just came," the girl spat. Oh, so a newbie. "And I'm Marie."

"Hi Marie!"

"And that circus? My home. That circus? Burned down during a big fight."

"Burned down? Like the supermarket around the corner that one time? That was such a big fire!" Kayleeth's eyes grew large. "It was gi-gan-tic!"

Marie glared. "My family died. Because the fucking government thought they were rebels. Which they weren't. They're artists, nothing else. Artists. Artists don't fight. Who cares if they do martial arts during fucking_ shows_?"

"What means fucking?"

"You say that when you don't like something."

"So, like, this fucking orphanage?"

"Yes," Marie nodded, like one of these bad guys in the movies that the social workers didn't want them to watch. Maybe, if they were artists, they also did that? That would be incredible! They could all be in the movies together! "Enough of a sob story. Where are the torches?"

"Probably here?" Kayleeth shrugged. She began looking through the drawers.

"Who named you _Kayleeth_?" Marie asked with a cringe. She wasn't looking through them, but she also wasn't part of Mission Office Lamps.

"The orphanage."

"And you like that name?"

"Nope," Kayleeth hummed.

"Get a new one? Kay? Like the letter, maybe?"

"No, that sounds like 'Okay'. The social workers don't want us to make up nicknames. That 'encourages delinquent behaviour'. I don't know what delinquent behaviour is, but they said it's very very bad and makes people sad."

"They're criminals."

"Oooh," Kayleeth replied. "Oh! Found them! Let's get out of here!"

"They told me to stay here, though," Marie replied.

Kayleeth's response was a shrug. She barely ever was where the orphanage wanted her to be (that was, the study room, but they didn't want John to read, so that didn't make sense either way and Kayleeth had thrown that through the window ages ago, literally) so she doubted it'd would make much sense for Marie to do the same. What was the difference between them?

"Nobody will care," she therefore told her. Nobody did care. It made sense.

Either way, Marie shook her head. She sat down again and crossed her legs like the high—no, tall—high school students did while blowing grey air around. "They told me if I break the rules, I'll get into trouble."

"It's just the Single Room. It's a great place to nap, actually. And we—"

Marie groaned and shook her head—almost like the adults did at the end of each day, but without the sweat, red and the 'I am about to resign' muttering. "Not that kind of stuff. If they think I am a rebel too, they will arrest me—like they did with my family."

"What are rebels?"

"Bad people with guns."

"And who'll arrest you?"

"The government."

"What's the government?"

"Bad people with guns."

"So, they're the same?"

"Essentially." Marie leaned back. "I can't get arrested. If I do that, I'll become an Eight, and that's even worse. There won't be anything I can do. I won't be able to perform acrobatics anymore, or martial arts performances. It'll be illegal and I could get arrested for that too."

"What's an Eight?"

"Do you know _anything_, Kayleeth?"

"Yes! I know that the Earth is like a dinner plate that is floating—"

Marie deadpanned. "Earth. Is. Not. Flat."

"Well, I mean, the plate has slightly higher ends?"

"No, it's a ball."

Kayleeth titled her head. "Like a soccer ball?"

"Yes, like a soccer ball."

"Who's playing with it?"

This time, it was Marie who shrugged. She looked up, to the ceiling lamp that they couldn't steal (they tried once, and got into big big big trouble. Triple big. Whatever triple meant. John said it.) and then to Kayleeth, again. "God? Who knows. I don't really care."

"But what if you hit someone while kicking the ball?"

Marie facepalmed. Kayleeth knew what that was. "It's a metaphor, dude."

"What's a metaphor? What's a dude?"

"Do you have a lexicon?"

"What's that?"

Marie had to be super-duper-mega intelligent if she knew all these complicated adult words. Maybe even as smart was John was, she thought. She'd be a great addition to their team. She could help them, plan things and maybe even draw outlines for circus tends and show them whatever this martial arts thing was! Exciting!

The girl, however, only shook her head. "You're impossible."

"That doesn't make sense…"

"Do you ever listen in class? At school? Do you even go to school?"

Kayleeth titled her head. Theoretically, she did. Once a week or so; the rest of the time, she played outside on the playground at the park. Many people were there—including the tall school students with their grey air. "Sometimes? It's _really_ boring there."

"Ask for more work?"

"Why would I do that!"

"Do you even know what ten times ten is?"

"One-hundred," Kayleeth replied, proud.

"And ten times sixty-eight times fifty-three?"

Ten times sixty-eight was six-hundred-eighty. That was easy; times sixty with ten, and eight with ten, and add them on. Six-hundred-eighty times fifty-three. Six-hundred times fifty was threety-thousand, and eighty times fifty was four-thousand. Threety-four thousand. Three times six-hundred was eighteen hundred and three times eighty was two-hundred-and-foury. That meant, it had to be fivety-thousand-five-hundred-and-fourty. "5540! Correct?"

Marie shrugged. "Who knows? Do I look like a calculator?"

Kayleeth knew what calculators were. She had seen them in the Office (and stolen one twice). They were fun and did maths too. "No, you don't."

"I sure hope so."

"Oh, look, an UFO!" someone called.

* * *

_Do you think what you do just might fix the bad in you?  
__Well, you're wrong this time around_

_And oh, oh, oh, oh, you know you gave me something to believe in  
__Oh, oh, oh, oh, you hide behind these battle lines_

* * *

"Let's go!" Kayleeth grabbed the

"What? UFOs aren't a thing either! Kayleeth, you can't tell me you really believe into that."

"No, it's not a real UFO," Kayleeth replied. "It's _the sign_."

Marie didn't seem to understand. Poor thing. "What sign? For what?"

"That the adults are coming back. Let's get out of here!"

Marie only shook her head. "No, no, no! Kayleeth, I will get into trouble, and I don't want to. There's nowhere I can go." Gosh, she almost looked like she was panicking, Kayleeth noticed. Marie's eyes were glued on the door behind herself, so she opened it. "I'm—I don't want to get into trouble. Not like this."

Kayleeth laughed out. "Oh, come on, don't worry. Nothing will happen."

With that, she slipped through the door, through the office and back to the girls' bedroom. Even if Marie didn't come, they'd have fun—Kayleeth wanted her to come along (more friends, more fun!) but she wasn't going to risk the circus.

"I got the torches!" she hummed, and helped Forest to hide them on the upper bunk beds. John, behind her, gave them thumbs up, as slowly, the others returned back. Kayleeth herself took a seat next to John on the lower level, looking onto the plans.

"Everything is done," he assured her. "How are Jackye and Willoh doing?"

Willoh had, unlike Jackye, returned. "The current status is that they want him to stay with them for supervision if anything happens. They don't want to call an ambulance for the second time this week."

"Then we're free to start," John concluded. "Jackye can join us later. Did anything else happen?"

Kayleeth smiled, and bounced up and down. She had to share this news! "There's a new kid. Her name's Marie, but she refuses to come in. She's afraid of getting into trouble. Apparently, she actually is from the circus!"

"That's awesome, Kayleeth!"

"She should definitely join us!"

"She can teach us tricks!"

"A real circus!"

"She also said something about material arts, but I don't really get what that is. Maybe tinkering? Like TinkerBell!" Kayleeth titled her head. "She can our first act! And instead of just a circus, we'll have a circus school! That'd be so much more fun than normal school!"

"We could even become a travelling circus!"

"We could go all over the country! A road trip to Waverly"

"Oh, and I wanna go to Dominica!"

"And France!"

"We'll drive everywhere!"

"I'm sure that if Marie is to join the orphanage," John spoke up, "she will be with us once the Jackye situation is resolved. Until then, let's set up the lights and torches."

The Happy Valley Orphanage children did exactly that, and more. Landon had gotten a few sweets (how rare, they said) from his guard position in the kitchen, and very soon, most of the involved (there were, of course, always children who refused to play along in the hopes of getting adopted) children were sitting in their artificial circus tent, munching cookies and fighting about who would be the first act.

Kayleeth insisted that it should be Willoh who was a decent singer.

Forest wanted John, a master story narrator.

Others wanted to be an act, but couldn't name what they were.

Suddenly, from outside the tent, someone called out, "What in the world is going on here?!"

Kayleeth was happy to jump up and go through the artificial door. With a proud, beaming smile, she faced the orphanage social worker (who looked like she was about to go home—way too early, in her opinion). Exhausted, red, sweaty and tired.

"We build a circus!"

"You need to put this back when it's time to sleep."

"Of course!" Kayleeth hummed. "Will do! I'll personally make sure that everything happens! Construction Site Manager's Honour!"

The social worker had half the energy to rise an eyebrow before she just shrugged and nodded to Marie the Circus Girl behind her. The notion gave her the sign to step forward, as at the same time—like wolves of a pack—the other kids came out of the makeshift circus tend to see what was going on.

"This is Marie. She will be joining us from today. Welcome her—_John_! This is the girls' bedroom! No boys allowed!"

"John doesn't count as a boy either way," someone shouted from

"Kayleeth is keeping my books hostage if I refuse to join her," John muttered from the inside as well. That wasn't wrong—Kayleeth was pretty found of using his 'A Song Of Ice And Fire' books to balance on her head too, but he was actually reading them, so no, she wasn't holding them hostage. Whatever hostage meant. She was only keeping The Fantastic Tales of Lissa Dove, because the girl in the picture book looked like her and she liked that.

"Alright, just, don't do this again."

They all knew that it would inevitably going to happen again, but no was going to actually say that, of course. Instead, Kayleeth grabbed the hand of the newcomer and pulled her into their makeshift tent, leaving the tired social worker behind her. She proudly introducer their circus teacher to them, gained an annoyed sigh and a proud grin from the blonde.

Kayleeth sat down next to John and picked up her book again, to put it on her head, to watch the performance. Strange habits, but Kayleeth Rolayne Smith liked to see herself as the odd one out. Marie rose her eyebrows, sat down next to her, and grabbed the book.

"What's this? What'cha doing with it?"

"No, it's my book!" Kayleeth tried to grab it back, but Marie dodged.

"It theoretically belongs to the orphanage," John added on. His nose was deep in his own book.

The chatter of the children of Happy Valley Orphanage returned, and the fight on who would be the first act went on. Kayleeth, now, couldn't care. That book was hers! Especially when John wouldn't give her the book he currently read!

"But the main character looks like me! Give it back!"

Marie deadpanned. "Okay, 'Lissa Dove', that doesn't change that I want to see the book. Just give me a moment."

* * *

_I'm gonna be a comeback kid  
And I want to find the words I need to say  
Yeah, I'm gonna survive with my head held high  
And finally walk away  
I'm gonna be a comeback kid  
And I want to be the one that's not afraid  
To jump from every sinking ship 'cause I'm done  
Waiting to be saved_

* * *

_**Author's Note**_

**Hit me with the grammar errors, I wrote this at 1am during exam week smh.**

**This is a oneshot with music inspiration coming from _Comeback Kid _by _Against The Current_. This is a oneshot about _izar ilunak's The Kingdom in Exile_, featuring the lovely Lissa Dove as central character, and the cast of characters that is her family.**


End file.
